BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: The prospect of the European Union accusing Apple of getting illegal tax breaks in Ireland has reopened a debate on how European countries attract multinational businesses. It has also put Dublin back in the spotlight.

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: The European Commission has fined Infineon, Philips and Samsung a total of €138m for forming a smartcard chip cartel in Europe in its latest anti-trust case against technology firms.

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: The European Union launched a probe to determine whether the special tax deals offered to Apple and Starbucks by authorities in Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands amount to illegal state aid.

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: Makers and users of electronic cigarettes on Tuesday (3 September) went to war against the European Union's plans to class the devices as medicinal products, saying any such move would end up harming public health.

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: The world's largest brewer AB InBev reported on Wednesday (31 July) better-than-expected second-quarter results, sending its shares price sharply as it benefited from its acquisition of the Corona beer brand in Mexico.

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: - European Union (EU) leaders met on Thursday (27 June) to find ways of delivering growth and jobs for Europe's 'lost generation' of young people as crisis-induced austerity and high unemployment test voters' trust in the union.

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: Belgium is rightly proud of its status as a producer of some of the world's finest chocolate but changing tastes and new markets in Asia and the Arab world are shaking up its chocolate production.

LONDON, UK: North America's switch on to energy efficiency has driven their position in the global renewable M&A market in the last 12 months, and could act as a driver for the region to become the dominant renewables market within three years, according to new analysis by PwC. In Europe, however, regulatory uncertainty clouds European deals.

LONDON, UK: Despite huge growth in China, the market for luxury retail in Europe will remain the most lucrative in the world and will grow by nearly US$60 billion (about R431 billion) to be worth US$175 billion (about R1257 billion) by 2015 finds Verdict, one of the Datamonitor group of companies.

NEW YORK, US: Consumer confidence fell in 25 out of 52 countries in Q4 2010 as hope for a global economic recovery evaporated at the end of last year, according to the latest edition of the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index, which tracks consumer confidence, major concerns and spending intentions among online consumers.

NEW YORK, US: After an upbeat start to the year with two consecutive quarters of increases in optimism, global consumer confidence fell three points in September to an Index of 90 as consumers' hopes for a full economic recovery this year fades in most parts of the world, according to the latest edition of the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index.